6 ms·
I am in a small and new band. In 2023 we earned roughly 500 Euros via Bandcamp (digital, physical and merch) 300 Euros selling merch on gigs 2000
by atoav 3y ago
I am in a small and new band. In 2023 we earned roughly
500 Euros via Bandcamp (digital, physical and merch)
300 Euros selling merch on gigs
2000 Euros playing gigs
20 Cents on Spotify
There is no monetary reason to be on spotify, the only reason we are on there is because fans asked.
- whstl 3y agoSimilar experiences (but from a few years ago). Even people who have Spotify end up buying stuff in Bandcamp, anyway. I never had merch but had CDs, and sometimes people would buy two physical copies, one to gift. For me there was never any difference between Spotify and piracy.
- Hoasi 3y agoAbsolutely. I always buy music from artists to support them on Bandcamp. Spotify lets you discover bands that are little known, which is cool, but it's not a place that enables you to support those artists. Unfortunately, Bandcamp might also change since they are changing owners.
- magicalhippo 3y agoI use Spotify because my SO wants it for podcasts and stuff and family subscription is just tad more, and it's in my car and similar which is convenient. I also buy the music I listen to a fair bit on Bandcamp or at concerts. As an example, last fall a song from a band came up in the randomized post-album "radio" on Spotify as I was driving, and I added the band to my favorites. A month ago Spotify notified me the band was playing in town, so I went and ended up buying several CDs, including from the warmup band as well. That said, I agree that Spotify should pay more to small artists. I really dislike that my money goes to Talor Swift and similar artists who have more than enough and that neither I nor my SO listen to.
- whstl 3y agoThose are fair points, and I agree. I think I should have said that Spotify is the same as piracy from an artists POV. It's definitely not illegal for users, and it definitely helps with "exposure", but it's not really a platform for making real money with your music, except when it's listened to in massive quantities. For me, it's no different than putting a free album link in Instagram, or when Nine Inch Nails put it on PirateBay as a stunt...
- runiq 3y agoI'm intrigued. What's your bandcamp page? :)
- atoav 3y agoWarning — we are probably pretty niche with our noisy music, but here ya go: https://maschinkaput.bandcamp.com/ https://maschinkaput.bandcamp.com/
- runiq 3y agoNee, ich mag's. Danke für den Link, und Grüße nach Hamburg!
- BLKNSLVR 3y agoListening on Bandcamp right now - the song 'drop'. I like some pretty out there stuff, and this is right at the outer limits, and I mean that as a compliment. I might not "enjoy" it as one would traditionally enjoy listening to music, but I enjoy that it exists and the uniqueness of the experience it provides. If you can handle LAMC by Tool, you can handle this. 'kabelbrand' is giving me flashbacks to Providence by King Crimson, just a bit more raw and industrial. All build-up without the instruments actually synchronising together for the payoff as per Providence. The band name is great; apt.
- meindnoch 3y agoNice! Reminds me of Nazoranai.
- rglullis 3y agoWould you/your band be interested in trying out a pay-what-you-want system? I started the work to add crowdfunding support to communick (described on https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39399121 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39399121) and I'm looking now for musicians/artists/FOSS developers for some beta testing.
- anentropic 3y agoit's already possible to do pay-what-you-want in Bandcamp always good to have more options though!
- rglullis 3y agoBut does it provide a way for them to stream all of the artists catalog?
- jaculabilis 3y agoYeah, most artists let you listen to the whole album before you buy it. Sometimes there are songs that don't have previews, and I think there are sometimes hidden songs included with the album but not even listed, but in general you can stream a few times before buying, and then stream as much as you want afterwards.
- rglullis 3y ago> but in general you can stream a few times before buying, and then stream as much as you want afterwards. Not exactly what I have in mind. I am working with the model where all songs are always available (like Spotify) and people simply choose how (a) how much they want to give per month and (b) how to split this amount among their preferred artists. In effect, it's the same as a "pay as you want", but there is no overhead of thinking about which songs to "buy".
- asdof 3y agoI'd wager the income from playing gigs would be substantially lower if you weren't on Spotify.
- tgv 3y agoYour arguments veers close to the "for exposure" payment. People don't go to indie concerts because of a spotify track. Nor to big name concerts. And 20 cents corresponds to around 50 to 100 plays according to the numbers mentioned here.
- helsinkiandrew 3y ago> And 20 cents corresponds to around 50 to 100 plays Unfortunately more like 5000+ plays. People tend go to concerts of music they listen to and for a lot of people that means hearing it on Spotify
- peapicker 3y agoActually, the spotify rate is 0.003 cents per track, which reflects my 83 plays ‘earning’ $0.25 on Spotify before this.
- epolanski 3y ago> People don't go to indie concerts because of a spotify track Do you have numbers behind this claim? I definitely got aware of some unknown artists thanks to Spotify and YouTube, some of them had low hundreds views/listens. Ended up supporting them, going to concerts and buying merch.
- nsteel 3y agoSame. I see a show advertised and I want to hear what the bands sound like, the easiest way (for me) is to search for them on Spotify and check out the top few tracks and the new release. If I like what I hear then I'll buy a ticket and go. I probably could have found the tracks other ways if I really tried, but this way just works, almost always.
- FireInsight 3y agoThis is exactly the reason why my preferred method of music consumption is piracy + Bandcamp. Every Bandcamp Friday (when Bandcamp doesn't take a cut) I buy about 2 to 6 albums I've listened to in the past month or a few. If an artist is not on Bandcamp, I'm less likely to listen to them, but if I do, I eventually pirate their stuff. All the music I buy and pirate is in FLAC and funneled into my local library, where I can enjoy it without any streaming service taking it away from me. And I usually end up contributing more to my favorite artists financials than fans who use streaming service, so that's a bonus.
- aaaarc 3y agoIn case of smaller artists we'd be better off pirating music instead of helping cement Spotify's brand as a central platform. The only person losing money in this case is the platform holder so we could argue the decentralised aspect of piracy helps fighting monopolisation of the industry.
- margorczynski 3y agoBut don't they give out a flat % of what they earn from the subscriptions? The low return would mean that either: a) Spotify doesn't charge enough for a subscription b) Spotify takes too big of a cut right now from the subscription revenue c) The model doesn't work as a lot of people from low-income (and low subscription cost) countries are "sucking out" the money that goes mainly from rich ones. So 1 listen from USA = 1 listen from India even though the USA listener pays around 7-8x times more and the subscription income gets divided equally by listens.
- yreg 3y agoPeople use Spotify because it is comfortable and provides additional features liked by users. That has always been the only way to beat piracy.
- pydry 3y agoThese numbers definitely give piracy a shine. What's better for music as a whole? Boosting Spotify's share price and Taylor Swift's private jet habit? Or putting that $11/month towards some gigs for an artist you really like?
- helsinkiandrew 3y ago> There is no monetary reason to be on spotify, the only reason we are on there is because fans asked. This isn't an excuse for Spotify not paying much for plays, but I bet having music on spotify helps the gig revenue though. In some ways this is also true for Taylor Swift et al - they also make thousands times the amount from playing gigs than 'selling' albums, streaming, and radio plays but that drives ticket sales.
- jfoster 3y agoIndie: No one pays you. Popular: Gigs pay you. Taylor Swift: Governments pay you millions of dollars for regional exclusivity. (essentially, play 2 - 3 concerts instead of 10+) https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/mar/05/taylor-swift-singapore-exclusive-southeast-asia-eras-tour-deal https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/mar/05/taylor-swift-s...
- coldtea 3y agoOf course that's a quite rare case of a small nation with many neighbors with interested listeners, trying to get an artist to play there exclusively in order to drive concert tourism.
- brabel 3y agoThe music industry is the most vicious example of inequality. While some artists are so big that governments compete to have you come to their country (and NOT to your neighbours), the vast majority has trouble even getting to play free gigs.
- jhrmnn 3y agoSpotify should then be run as ad business—charge artists to let them advertise on Spotify.
- l33tman 3y agoIsn't that exactly what they do if they have the stream-cutoff discussed in this thread then? At least implicitly..
- petecooper 3y agoReading this has made me buy the last two physical items on my Bandcamp wishlist. Bandcamp isn't perfect, but it fits well with my listening habits and I'm glad it earns _some_ money for you in the grand scheme of things.
- jug 3y agoYeah, no cash in it but I figure it's mainly to gain exposure to hopefully later on get those into the "playing gigs" / merch audience, because reach is on the other hand massive on Spotify.
- mkl 3y agoHow many Spotify plays was that?
- atoav 3y agoNot sure, and I am too lazy to ask our drummer for that ; )
- TomK32 3y agoI buy my music at bandcamp and other sites. I always feel a bit angry if an artists doesn't offer a proper download for their music.
- defrost 3y agoWhether or not you buy Only The Shit You Love by Damian Cowell's Disco Machine on bandcamp: https://damiancowell.bandcamp.com/album/only-the-shit-you-love https://damiancowell.bandcamp.com/album/only-the-shit-you-lo... you can get the "free" synced multi episode animated web comic from youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkRxIMJ3GpPH_NurdvJLLUnsP3vUCDIYn https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkRxIMJ3GpPH_NurdvJLL...
- TomK32 3y agoWow, that's really Only the Shit I Love. It's now on my wishlist until my bank account allows to buy it. Talking of Aussie bands: https://drunkmums.bandcamp.com/album/beer-baby https://drunkmums.bandcamp.com/album/beer-baby and https://3pod.bandcamp.com/album/middleborough-rd https://3pod.bandcamp.com/album/middleborough-rd
- darkclouds 3y ago[dead]
- dzek69 3y agoI wonder if is there a monetary reason to be on youtube (music)? I listen to most music on yt music (although their client sucks) and buy stuff on bandcamp whenever i love some band and it's available there. I've never seen a value in spotify - limited library with no ability to fill the gaps with custom files (like you can do on YT music), client is meh, additional cost or ads are meh too.
- greenie_beans 3y agoreal heads buy music from bandcamp
- em-bee 3y agodo you have listener numbers for spotify and bandcamp?
- nickburns 3y agolots of commercial endeavors rely on investment, capital or otherwise, to increase exposure and growth. sucks to be feeling like you're working or 'spending' for nothing in any context. but hopefully you guys ultimately see the return you deserve.